


My Hero

by etherealksm



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Childhood Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mutual Pining, jeongin is innocent and pure, kinda a cliche, pure fluff, seungmin is Whipped, theyre both nerds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 02:14:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18459356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/etherealksm/pseuds/etherealksm
Summary: Jeongin enters an essay writing contest where you write about your hero. Jeongin writes about Seungmin.





	My Hero

When the little boy moved next door when Seungmin was eight, he was mildly annoyed. Why couldn’t he have been his age? Someone who he could play with? He ignored his mom assuring him that he was only in the grade below him, it just wasn’t the same. 

When Seungmin’s mom made him go with her to bring cookies to their new neighbors, he met Jeongin for the first time. He was small, but not really much smaller than Seungmin at that time. He looked nervous, so much so that Seungmin felt bad and just wanted to make it better. While their moms were talking, he approached the smaller boy.

“What’s your favorite pokemon?” Seungmin asked. Classic conversation starter. Jeongin’s face showed even more nervousness. 

“Pikachu, I guess. He’s the only pokemon I really know.” Jeongin mumbled. Now Seungmin was annoyed. This new neighbor not only wasn’t his age, but also didn’t like Pokemon!

Jeongin noticed Seungmin’s face and quickly apologized, worried that he’d done something wrong, but Seungmin had a new idea.

“If we’re gonna be friends, you’re gonna need to know Pokemon.” Seungmin announced, and he dragged the confused boy back to his house next door, forgetting to tell their parents.

An hour later their parents found their missing children laughing and watching Pokemon together. 

When Seungmin was ten, Jeongin’s father passed away. Jeongin’s father was a great person who took Jeongin and Seungmin to the park and would listen to their rambles about their adventures. He even bought them matching pokemon plushies. It hit Seungmin too. But even though it wasn’t something ten year olds usually understand, he knew Jeongin needed him. And while ten year olds don’t have amazing life changing advice, Seungmin was there for Jeongin. And that was enough. 

When Seungmin was 11, he realized he and Jeongin’s bedrooms were both on the first floor with a convenient window. Whenever one wanted the other, they were only a window away. Too them, that was more comforting and adventurous than knocking the door and talking to a parent for them. 

Seungmin began to always be there for Jeongin. As they grew older, feelings got more complex as always. But this only solidified their relationship. Seungmin started middle school  and made more friends, but none ever came close to what he had with Jeongin. Although they mostly grew out of Pokemon by now, they’ve started to get into Naruto and the two could just spend hours talking about anything and everything. There was a comfort they had within each other that no one else could satisfy.

When Seungmin was 13, Jeongin’s mom started to get depressed. With the loss of her husband and now recently her parents from a car crash, she wasn’t doing well. Seungmin was older now and understood things better. He knew Jeongin would be smiling anyway, although this must be hard for him. Seungmin began to visit Jeongin’s window at night more often, bringing some candy and anime DVDs. 

When Seungmin was 15, he decided that he was in fact gay. When he never understood the talk of girls from his friends, he thought he was just young and would feel it someday like he’d heard. But he never felt it, and instead found himself thinking about the cute boys in the kdramas he watched every now and then. Of course he shared this with Jeongin, since they talking about everything, who replied with a big smile and a casual, “I think I might feel that way, too.”

When Seungmin was 17, he realized Jeongin was more than a friend to him. The smile Jeongin always greeted him with never got old, and gave him butterflies every single time. The way Seungmin has to cover up his stuttering because lately Jeongin has been trying out new outfits that look really nice on him. The fact he could depend on Jeongin for anything now matter how big or small was really comforting too. The comfort and familiarity built up these past 9 years between these was something Seungmin really treasured, though, and he didn’t want a dumb crush to ruin it. So this was the first thing Seungmin ever hid something from Jeongin.

When Seungmin was 18, he was in his last year of school while Jeongin still had a year to go. That year, there was a country wide writing competition to write about your hero. The winner got published in the newspaper and got a small prize. Honestly, Seungmin didn’t know about this competition until much later. He didn’t really listen to any announcements. 

His mom wanted to show him an article in the newspaper. It was an article written about him. By Jeongin. About why he was Jeongin’s hero. Seungmin started at the article in shock and read over it at least 50 times, taking in each word. While Jeongin obviously didn’t give this message to Seungmin specifically, Seungmin could feel how it was specifically for him. He panicked a lot, considering it was his long term crush who wrote this. 

Seungmin decided to confront Jeongin about it that night. He didn’t end up going to Jeongin’s until closer to midnight due to panicking about what to say, but he showed up and knocked at Jeongin’s window as he always did, hoping he was awake. And to Seungmin’s luck he was. Jeongin looked up from his phone and came to the window to let Seungmin in.

“What are you doing here?” Jeongin asked in a slightly serious tone, but with a smile that showed he was actually happy to see Seungmin.

Seungmin panicked in front of Jeongin for the first time. He was nervous to tell the truth to Jeongin, which was really rare for him.

“I got bored?” Seungmin said, but it came out more like a question.

Jeongin looked a little confused, but shrugged it off, “Okay then, we could play mario kart or something. But school is tomorrow so we probably shouldn’t spend too long.”

Seungmin nodded and took the seat in front of Jeongin’s TV ready to play. They played for a little like normal, but Seungmin kept losing horribly and staying quiet. His mind was much too full to truly concentrate on this. 

After a couple games of Seungmin coming last and saying next to nothing, Jeongin spoke up. “Are you okay? You’re usually the one kicking my ass and I usually have to tell you to shut up because you’re so loud.” 

Seungmin sighed and put down his controller before looking into Jeongin’s eyes. 

“Is something wrong?” Jeongin started to reflect Seungmin’s worry.

“Actually, I wanted you to know I saw your essay in the newspaper.” Seungmin admitted, too nervous to say anymore at that point.

“Oh,” Jeongin laughed nervously. “That… right. I kinda hoped you wouldn’t see it.” Jeongin admitted.

Seungmin took a deep breath and looked down at Jeongin, who only a little shorter than him while sitting down. “Actually, I’m really glad I did see it. It was really sweet! I know we don’t explicitly say it that often so it was really nice to see you say it all…” Seungmin paused. “And more importantly it gives me the chance to tell you that you’re my hero too.”

Jeongin looked genuinely surprised, “But - you always did anything and everything for me. I always feel like i’ve never compared to what you’ve done for me….” Jeongin trailed off and looked up at Seungmin, his eyes a little glossy.

“You really think you haven’t done anything? I know I don’t have as much to rant about besides the usual teenage stuff or whatever, but honestly, without you I wouldn’t have been this happy, Jeongin.” Seungmin admitted. “You’ve saved me from a lot, whether you realized it or not.”

The two looked at each other for a moment. No words were exchanged, but it wasn’t an awkward silence.

“Listen, what I’m trying to say is you’re my hero, too. You’ve been everything I’ve ever needed since we met 10 years ago. You’ve shown me friendship, support, optimism, adventure, and... love.” Seungmin almost whispered the last word, but Jeongin heard it loud and clear. And Jeongin knew exactly what Seungmin had been saying. 10 years of knowing each other is like that, he guesses. Or maybe it’s because he feels the same way.

“I love you too, Seungmin.”


End file.
